There are excellent small-craft and fishing-boat facilities in Shark River inside the inlet. Most of these facilities are on both sides and above the inner bridges, and in the Belmar Municipal Boat basin.
Navigation:
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Shark River, which enters Shark Inlet 17 miles south of Sandy Hook Light, is the only small-craft harbor between Sandy Hook and Manasquan Inlet. The town of Avon fronts the ocean on the north side of the river, and Belmar is on the south side.
A dredged channel leads through the inlet and river to the Belmar Municipal Boat Basin 1.2 miles above the jetties. In October 2010, the controlling depth was 10.3 feet in the jetty channel to the Ocean Avenue Bridge; thence in March 2010, 5.7 feet (6.7 feet at midchannel) to the State Route 35 highway bridge, thence 4.1 feet (6.8 feet at midchannel) to Belmar Municipal Boat Basin.
In stormy weather, breakers form along the bar off the inlet, but entrance can be made in moderately rough weather with some local knowledge. When the winds and the tides are opposed, the inlet is difficult to enter. A cross current, strongest on the ebb, may be encountered at Ocean Avenue Bridge at the inner end of the jetties. Vessels for which the closed bridge clearance is insufficient should not attempt entrance until the drawspan is completely open.
Three bascule drawbridges cross the main channel of Shark River. Ocean Avenue Bridge, just inside the jetties, has a clearance of 15 feet, State Route 71 highway bridge, about 0.8 mile above the jetties, has a clearance of 13 feet and the New York and Long Branch Company Bridge 0.1 mile above State Route 71 highway bridge, has a clearance of 8 feet. The bridgetender for the highway and railroad bascule bridges monitor VHF-FM channel 13; call signs KMD-281 and KT-4202 respectively, with the latter serving as the call sign for the State Route 71 highway bridge and the railroad bridge. A fixed highway bridge with a clearance of 50 feet crosses the main channel immediately westward of the railroad bridge.
The fixed spans of State Route 71 and State Route 35 highway bridges, and of the New York and Long Branch Railroad Company Bridge, cross the upper reach or north channel of Shark River at about the same distances above the jetties as the bascule spans of these bridges; least clearances are 35 feet horizontal and 8 feet vertical.
Overhead power cables cross the north channel of Shark River close eastward of the New York and Long Branch Railroad Company Bridge and close westward of State Route 35 highway bridge; least clearance is 32 feet.
